Downtown plan sees optimistic reception

YORKTOWN – The name of the game is going to be information dissemination — at least that's what Town Council President Rich Lee said following the public unveiling of the new downtown vision May 5 at the Yorktown High School Auditorium.

The meeting started with a presentation by Eric Ernstberger that outlined the plan for downtown. The key words for Yorktown's future vision were three simple words that could carry a lot of meaning for the future of Yorktown: Live. Work. Play.

The process has been a long time in the making. Hyatt Palma, a downtown planning firm, did a downtown plan two years ago showing how they wanted to bridge and renew downtown. The plan called for more retail and a connection to Morrows Meadow.

The May 5 meeting was an open discussion on that idea.

"This is not a project to look at of us doing tomorrow. It's going to expand our community over a broad number of years," Town Manager Pete Olson said.

The plan brings a return to density and scale instead of the sprawling building that a majority of the state has become accustomed to. Instead of out, the plan is to build up. Mixed-use buildings with commercial shops at the base and residential on the top of three- or four-story buildings would line Canal Street near the nexus of an urban park.

Ernstberger stressed that the roughly 2.5 acres of downtown that would become the "heart" and the gathering place was essential to work as a graph for any future residential and commercial expansion for the town. That park will also serve as a connector to Morrow's Meadow via a pedestrian bridge across Buck Creek. The project would cost an estimated $4 million.

In addition to the park, there are calls for additional trails tying in all the cultural aspects of Yorktown including the Sports Park and Lions Park.

Funding for the plan would come through a mix of business investment, TIF funding from Yorktown's already established districts, and potentially (should the public deem it worthy enough) an increase to Yorktown's normally conservative taxation rates.

"We have all options on the table, but it would require a lot more feedback. The bottom line is we need people to get the information and let us know the direction to take," Town Council President Rich Lee said after the meeting.

Despite the plan not being set in stone and a lower attendance at the meeting than expected, those in attendance saw potential in the plan.

Matt Anderson, a local resident, took interest in the plan not only for his town but as a potential commercial investment on behalf of his business.

"I really do love the idea. I'm the type of person that believes you either grow and thrive or you shrink and die," Anderson said.

The biggest aspect that Anderson liked was the urban park. He saw it as the heart of the project, and one that was needed should the project hope to take shape.

"It would be like the heart of the town. If you split up those aspects of that downtown park you are essentially ripping the heart apart," said Anderson.

The rest of the public at the meeting seemed at least open to the idea with a spur to the creation of downtown development opportunity.

That open mindedness to the possibility of a "return to glory" for Yorktown's downtown is a trend Lee hopes to continue.

"Let's build on the momentum of our parks," Lee said. "The whole project will depend on the public buying into it and giving us their feedback."